Wyoming Game & Fish officials release a black bear that was causing problems in Teton Village last week into the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in northwest Wyoming. Photo courtesy Wyoming Game & Fish Department.

Bear management officers with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department relocated a young female black bear from a residential area in Teton Village on Wednesday, May 30th, after it had received food rewards from an open dumpster and some area bird feeders. The bear was released in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest northwest of the Teton Range.

This is the first bear Game and Fish officials in the Jackson area have captured this season. They have received calls on other bears visiting residential areas in the Jackson area and are trying to encourage residents and businesses to use bear-resistant garbage cans or to store all garbage cans inside garages and buildings at all times, except for on collection day. They also recommend bird feeders be hung 10 feet above the ground or deck and 4 feet away from any tree, limb or structure.

In Cody, Wyoming Game and Fish Department trapped and relocated two juvenile grizzly bears this week. The two two-year old littermates were trapped on June 1, 15 miles southwest of Cody on a private residence in the South Fork Shoshone river valley after they were found feeding on dog food and grain at the residence. They also damaged a seat on a motorcycle. The two young bears were relocated the same day to a remote area in the Teton Wilderness in the Thorofare drainage. The release site is located within currently occupied grizzly bear habitat and the Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone.

Grizzly bear relocation is a management tool afforded bear management officers to address conflicts between humans and grizzlies. The decision to relocate and the selection of a relocation site is made in close consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service to minimize the chance of future conflicts and maximize the survival potential of the relocated grizzlies. The Department and the federal agencies make every consideration to minimize the potential for future conflicts with livestock and people in choosing a new relocation site for problem bears.

Relocated bears are radio collared and their location is monitored on a regular basis. Bears normally move a considerable distance from the relocation site after released.

The Game and Fish continues to stress the importance of keeping all attractants (food items, horse feeds, bird seed and others) unavailable to bears so they do not receive food rewards which can result in human-bear conflicts.